Profile: If pitching has three main components to it -- strikeouts, walks and ground balls -- then Tommy (not Tom) Milone is really only above-average in one of them. Well, elite at least in that one: only six qualified starters had a better walk rate than Milone last season. That work is built on an top-flight first-strike rate, which is the peripheral best correlated with walk rates, and also came after a minor league full of tiny walk numbers -- it's believable. Unfortunately, the strikeout rates in the minors were up and down, and despite a decent swinging strike rate in the majors, he hasn't managed to put up good strikeout numbers. He'll be 27 this season, so he's in his peak, but his cutter/curveball/changeup repertoire doesn't look like it'll ever be all about the ground balls. Milone's home park and control will always help him limit the ERA and WHIP, but without more strikeouts, his fantasy upside will remain limited. And if he ever calls another park home, the home run numbers might rise -- he's already a risky play on the road. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: Not quite blessed with a Tommy gun for an arm, Milone uses impeccable control of an 88-mph fastball and a diverse pitching mix to results worthy of inclusion in any fantasy rotation. Unfortunately, his contact and ground-ball rates don't suggest that he has much upside remaining.

Profile: Milone's strikeout rate climbed from 6.49 per nine in 2012 to 7.25 K/9 last year, but unfortunately his walk and home-run rates trended in the wrong direction. Still, he was a steady performer in AL-only leagues, finishing the season with a 4.14 ERA in 156.1 innings. However, it's hard to see him having much value in 2014, simply because there isn't room for him in the rotation at present. (Scott Strandberg)

The Quick Opinion: Jarrod Parker, Scott Kazmir, Sonny Gray and A.J. Griffin are all pretty much assured spots in the opening-day rotation, leaving Milone battling with Dan Straily, Drew Pomeranz and Josh Lindblom for the last spot. He may slide in sixth and wait in the minors for an injury to the top five.

Profile: The left-handed Milone found himself squeezed out of the Oakland rotation picture after the team acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel last July, so he was flipped at the trade deadline to the Twins in the Sam Fuld deal. Milone, who will be 28 on opening day, fits the definition of a soft-tossing lefty: his average fastball velocity of 86.5 mph was the slowest among starters with at least 110 innings, and his changeup accounted for nearly a quarter of all the pitches he threw in 2014. As one might imagine, this means Milone doesn’t get a lot of strikeouts, and his 14.5% strikeout rate last year was down more than three percentage points from his career mark entering the season. Unfortunately, the increased amount of contact against him hasn’t been offset by a diminished walk rate — he’s yielded free passes at an increasing clip each season since his 2011 debut, while his overall strike percentage has dropped each year. For a fly ball pitcher who allows home runs frequently, Milone is fortunate to have been bounced to Minnesota and its home run-suppressing Target Field, though he posted ugly numbers there in his three starts last year. More importantly, perhaps, is how he slots into what could be a crowded Twins rotation next year: Phil Hughes and Ervin Santana are locks, Ricky Nolasco has three years left on a $49 million contract, Kyle Gibson and Mike Pelfrey could be in the mix, and promising hurlers Alex Meyer and Trevor May could compete for spots as well. Milone could have an advantage as the only southpaw in the group, but even with a full-time job, he won’t have much value unless he can reverse several disturbing trends. (Karl de Vries)

The Quick Opinion: Even with a rotation spot, Milone should be left for AL-only leagues.

Profile: Milone had an up and down season with the Twins in 2015, and it was in more than one way. Not only was he just decent overall with the big club, but he also spent some time down at Triple-A Rochester when there was a rotation crunch in the early season. And it pissed Milone off. Those aren't the words of the mild-mannered lefty as much as they are the byproduct of the work he put in down there: 4-0, 0.70 ERA, 10.9 strikeouts per nine, 0.72 WHIP in 38.2 innings. Milone was send down with a 4.76 ERA after four starts, and closed the season with a 3.92 mark overall. In the meantime -- the real bulk of the season for him -- Milone had a 3.74 ERA, 78-25 strikeout to walk ratio in 106 innings and a .718 OPS against. For a left-hander who doesn't throw particularly hard and doesn't have one dominating out pitch, that's still pretty solid. Especially considering the Twins got him for Sam Fuld, whom they sent to the team that had just DFA'd him a couple months earlier. Milone could get lost in the rotation shuffle in Minnesota, but he's proven he's at least a capable back-end innings eater. You know, the kind of guy that might have been a better target than the Kevin Correias of the world. But that's none of my business. (Brandon Warne)

The Quick Opinion: Milone would be hard pressed to have any fantasy value outside of streaming or deep AL-only leagues, but he's turned himself into a nice back end starter.

Profile: Basically the only positive that came out of Milone's 2016 season is that he was really, really good in a seven-start stint in Triple-A Rochester after he was outrighted off the 40-man roster. He posted a 1.66 ERA (nine earned runs in 48.2 innings) down there before the Twins brought him back up for the stretch, but he was woeful with the big club all season long and battled biceps tendinitis that cost him nearly a month late in the season. Milone posted a 5.71 ERA as opposing batters teed off on him to the tune of a .299/.349/.509 slash line across 69.1 not-so-nice innings. He's landed with the Brewers on a one-year, big-league deal, so he'll get a shot to most likely work as a swingman, but there's no fantasy intrigue here. A soft-tossing fly ball lefty in Miller Park? Check, please! (@Brandon_Warne)

The Quick Opinion: Milone will probably be a swingman on the Brewers. He should not be on your fantasy team.

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